rec.autos.simulators

 http://www.racesimcentral.net/~HOSHUMUNGUS

    and

 http://www.racesimcentral.net/~godsoe/bolt/home.htm

l8er
ronny

          |\      _,,,---,,_        I want to die like my Grandfather,
   ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_              in his sleep.
        |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'     Not like the people in his car,
       '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)            screaming their heads off!

This performance is considerably worse than I get with my AMD K6-200,
which I run overclocked to 75x3=225.  L2 cache is critical for running
GPL on machines in this speed range.  Have you checked to see if you
have any?  You've got to have at least 256k of L2 cache to get good
performance with GPL (except on Celerons) and 512k is much better.

Also, the terrific fill rate of your Voodoo 2 is wasted on a machine
running at 200 mhz.  Aside from the fill rate, the Voodoo architecture
is not very efficient, and a Voodoo card places higher demands on CPU
power than a Rendition card.  Short of upgrading your CPU (and
motherboard, if you haven't got any L2 cache), the most cost-effective
hardware upgrade you can make is to purchase an 8 mb Hercules Thriller,
which currently are available for under $140.

If you can't afford the $300-400 that it would take to upgrade to a
Celeron and Slot 1 motherboard, you might look into a faster processor,
such as an AMD K6-2-300, or a Pentium 266, or even a 233, which are
quite inexpensive these days.  Also, some motherboards allow
overclocking the bus, which increases the speed at which the critical L2
cache runs.

My K6-225 with 8 mb Herc Thriller gets 36 fps when running with 5 to 8
AI cars and about half of GPL's graphics turned on, and 36 fps when
running solo with most graphics turned on, both at 640x480.  I find this
quite acceptable.

I have a P2-350 with 8 mb Hercules Thriller.  I run at 800x600 with all
graphics detail turned on and a full field of 19 AI cars.  I get a solid
36 fps all the time, except when I come into a full pit lane, or at the
start of a race.  Worst case in that event is frame rate in the mid to
high 20's.

Yes, I can, and do so all the time.  See above.

Yes.  F1RS is a very nice sim, but its physics are far, far less
sophisticated than those of GPL.  Once I spent a few hours in GPL, all
other sims began to seem like toys to me, even F1RS.  Now, someone has
to twist my arm to get me to race in F1RS for even a little while.

GPL is modeling the behavior of so many components of the car, in such
meticulous detail, with such extreme precision, that it takes far, far
more CPU power than any previous sim.  

However, the end result is incredible.  On a machine capable of running
it properly, GPL produces vehicle behavior of uncanny realism.  If you
are into racing sims, believe me, it's worth the relatively small
investment to put together the hardware you need to run GPL well.

For more details about hardware and GPL, see the hardware FAQ on my new
GPL web site:

  http://nh.ultranet.com/~alison/gpl/

Alison

Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me.
http://www.nh,ultranet.com/~alison

Geeze, it's soo funny.. People are like "The game doesn't run fast on my PC
! Oh the humanity !"

Welcome to the *** world. Upgrade or they won't wait for you. It's the
reality. It's not cheap to play games over a PC. We should all know that
(Just spent over 500$ in 1 month for it, quite an expensive hobby !).

Anyone remembers Gp2 here ?? It took 3years and it's EVEN not able to run
full graphics + everything in SVGA at Monaco with 25fps everywhere (probably
even not on PII 450 at the back of the grid using the side-car camera).

Anyone remembers how PC hog Nascar Racing 1 was on your 486 ?? That those
SVGA graphics really slowed it down when you used the grass/asphalt texture
??

I mean... <g> it's not like it's a new thing.  It's the whole demand/offer
economy. People want more realistic racing physics engines, but the
hardware/software can't catch up for that.

- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> Good race at the Brickyard!
- Official Mentally retarded guy of r.a.s.
- Excuse me for my English (I'm French speaking)
- Sponsored by http://www.racesimcentral.net/
- "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise
how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."--

BUT DON'T LIE ABOUT WHAT IS REQUIRED TO ENJOY ALL THIS SOPHISTICATION.

People deserve to know that your minimum requirements will run only the
menus.

People deserve to know that so long as they have a great 3dfx or Rendition
card, running with full or almost full graphics options results in a very
minimal frame rate hit.

People deserve to know that to play the game as it is intended, advertised
and described on the box (i.e., racing), you need a P2-450 or equivalent CPU
to process the AI.  I am disappointed that the requirement is so high, but
we have seen this before with "latest" games.  I am absolutely outraged that
Papyrus has sunk to the level of many of your bald-faced lying software
producing colleagues.  I expected more and I guess we can both decide
whether that was delusional on my part.

Marc.

The guy complaining about 10 fps has a "PII 333 OC to 375, voodoo2".
If he's getting 10 fpf on that kind of powerhouse it really is a joke,
no one will be able to run this game.

Joe

I think the 100 mhz fs bus must help.

Regards,

Michael

Andy

Jerry Morelock

Jerry Morelock

<snip>
<snip>

Man I love this whole 300A deal.  It's just wierd!

BTW, did you also get some RAM?  Of course you did :)

rob.

I know where you're coming from, and I agree to a certain extent, but
I can tell you that the game runs very smoothly (at max framerate with
19 AI opponents) on my PII-300.  

So it's not a 450...and that's not your point.  Maybe Papy should state
a P2 as a "recommended" platform...I don't know where the bottom end
is...anybody with a Socket 7 Pentium able to run full AI with 36 fps?

--

Neil Yeatman          
Ajax, Ontario, CANADA